Sunday, 26 August 2012

How to handle Peer Pressure

Friends
are always fun to have around. But there are times when they force you to do
something which makes you fall prey to peer pressure. You can’t escape it but
you can still handle it.

One
pressure that every individual in college or school life undergoes is to excel
in studies. Every school and university life puts pressure on an individual to
compare themselves to the other members in their group. Even if you don’t like
it, comparison is the only thing that tags you on how much you are favored or
how famous you are in your group or class with respect to academics or any
other activities. Sometimes these things lead to other problems like isolation,
inferiority complex as well as bullying among friends. And if you are the
targeted one, there is no way of escaping it.

What
you can do if you are the targeted one is to remain silent. If you feel that
you can’t handle it any more, be courageous to speak up. Make them note that
there is a limit to everything and in case if you have to, you have every right
to complain to the concerned authorities. But if they happen to be your
friends, make sure that they are crossing their boundaries.

And
in case if you aren’t the targeted one, then flatly refuse to take part in any
activities that are designed to cause harm or distress to any other person
.Make sure that your friends understand that bullying is harmful and never take
part in those activities. Note that ragging is one of bullying activities too.
Be a leader and make others follow you. Though at first it may sound different,
very soon people will understand how much you mean it by your own good
activities.

It is not an easy task to stand on your views .Some people may
hate you for telling what is right and wrong to do. If you give in to their
peer pressure, than it means they have overpowered you which in this case they
don’t respect your views. In that case, it is better to be alone than being in
those groups that don’t respect what you have to say.

Finally,
handling peer pressure is much easier if you learn to say no. It is your
right to say no and it means you respect your views .These qualities of
respecting oneself will slowly bring in positive changes to you and your
surroundings.